Heiner Flassbeck (1950) is senior economist at UNCTAD’s Division on Globalization and Development Strategies since November 2000. Since 2003 he is chief, Macroeconomic and Development Policies Branch at UNCTAD in Geneva, and acting director, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies. In March 2005 he was appointed honorary professor at the Hamburg University for Economics and Politics.

Before joining UNCTAD he was vice minister of Finance in Germany in 1998-1999. From 1990 to 1998 he has been chief economist of the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. He has been economic advisor to several governments in developing and transforming countries.

His publications cover macroeconomic topics ranging from labour and employment to problems of monetary policy and the exchange rate regime.